Red Liquid
by Jeannie-Mckay
Summary: Doctor McKay's captured by an old foe who seems to know a lot about what's been going on over the last year. Can the team find him in time to save him? Set in season 2. Mild drug use.
1. Chapter 1

**Title :** **Red Liquid**

**Summary : Doctor McKay's been captured by an old foe who knows a lot about the things that have been happening recently. Can the team help him? **

**Spoilers : Some of season 2, and possibly season 1. No season 3 spoilers.**

**Setting : Season 2, some months after 'The Hive'**

**Warning : Does contain mild drug use. May contain strong language in later chapters.**

**Hope you enjoy it, this may be another long story, let's hope that writers block doesn't strike! Anyway thanks for reading.**

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How many stars are there in the galaxy? Millions? Billions? So what is the probability that you could come to a planet about to be ransacked by a small sect of Genii? Well apparently for Rodney McKay this one in a million chance had been whittled down to a very likely chance.

He was now sat in the corner of a dingy Genii cell in the middle of nowhere, on a strange planet, all on his own. He was now cursing himself for having such bad luck. Of course it could only be his team that run into the Genii on a nice planet, an actual beach planet!

'_Of all the places they could have shown up on? They had to show on my dream planet! Why? Why do you all hate me up there?'_ he thought bitterly as he wrapped his arms around his legs in an effort to keep warm. He could hear distant footsteps, as the guards began to pace outside his room, no doubt waiting for the moment when the order came to kill him where he stood, well huddled.

Suddenly footsteps seemed to be coming nearer, he uncurled himself slowly and began to stand using the wall for support.

"Open the door." A muffled voice said from behind the horrible, thick metal door in front of Rodney.

Slowly the door creaked open and a man was framed in the door, a tall man with the ability to break a normal man into a lump of jelly just by looking at him.

Rodney normally classed himself to be above the norm, but he soon realised that his knees were knocking together so hard that he thought he might be able to solve the power shortage in Atlantis just by using all the energy from his knocking knees. The man in the doorway let out a cold, cruel laugh as he surveyed the shivering scientist.

"It's good to see you again Doctor McKay, especially now that you're grating voice seems to have deserted you."

Rodney's mouth opened for a moment then closed, it seemed his voice had gone flying away. No smart remarks this time, he was no longer with his team, no longer in his city where there were many secrets that he had to hide. He was alone, completely alone.

"Now Doctor McKay, I believe we have a lot to catch up on."

"O..h… yeah…" Rodney stammered as he managed to draw himself up to his full height and look the man in the eyes. The cold blue eyes that bore no happiness or remorse, only hatred and pain.

"Oh yes. Please sit, we have much to talk about." Acastus Kolya said with an evil smirk as both guards who had been guarding his room stepped into the cell, one holding a long knife, which Rodney recognised as one similar to the one that had been stuck into his arm a year ago, and the other holding a small gun pointed directly at his chest.

Feeling like he had no choice but to sit down Rodney reluctantly sat down on the cold floor and watched the evil grin on Kolya's face widen.

XXXXXXXXX

The gate activated unexpectedly, and immediately the technicians raised the shield around it. The Canadian technician who was watching over all gate activity looked quickly at his laptop screen waiting for an IDC, and sure enough one came through just as Doctor Weir came running from her office.

"It's Colonel Sheppard's IDC." He told her quickly, she smiled at him slightly

"Lower the shield." She said before she moved off the balcony to watch her number one team come through the gate.

Once again they were one man down, her eyes dimmed as she noticed that Doctor McKay was once again not in their midst. Colonel Sheppard looked up at her and in that brief moment of eye contact a long and complex message was passed between them. She nodded and smiled stiffly, before moving off towards the steps to find out how their mission had gone.

As she neared the bottom of the steps she saw Telya smiling weakly and Ronon was once again his perfect mask of indifference, but she could see from his posture that he was agitated.

"Colonel, Teyla, Ronon. How'd it go? I take it you didn't find Rodney?" She said quietly, as another team began to enter the gate room ready to embark on their own mission.

"No," John said in his military voice, that he only used when he was holding back on emotions that were threatening to surface. "We didn't even find a clue to where he might be."

"Okay, we'll talk about this more when you've all had a rest. We'll meet in the briefing room in one hour." They each gave her a nod and left hurriedly. She watched them leave, never letting her emotions show, before she turned to Major Lorne's team and wished them luck.

XXXXXXXXX

"How did you find out about that!" Rodney exclaimed, jumping up from his position on the floor of his cell. He immediately regretted this action as it sent waves of pain up his legs as they began to cramp, he hated getting older!

"We have our sources Doctor." The cold eyes boring into his, as he began to sink down to the floor once again. "You're drug addiction is common knowledge amongst our group of Genii." McKay squirmed slightly under the penetrating gaze, but Kolya continued as if he didn't notice McKay's shiver.

"We have been trying to think of a way to damage Atlantis for many months now, and unfortunately all inspiration eluded us until now. Now we know the perfect way to get our message across to your city. Oh no need to panic Doctor," he said as Rodney backed away slightly, "It will all be over quickly, I assure you." Kolya stood and motioned to the two guards, who promptly walked around to Rodney and lifted him up till he was standing on his own two feet. But they did not let go, they held onto him so tightly that he felt the circulation being cut off from the lower part of his arms.

"Let go of me, do you know how hard it is for a scientist to work with limited use to his arms? Hmm, no didn't think so. Now let me go before my arms actually drop off!" Both guards ignored him, and Kolya only smiled wider as he produced from his coat a syringe filled with red liquid.

Rodney's eyes widened in terror as he recognised the liquid, Wraith enzyme. The goon on his right pulled his arm out in front of him and ripped the sleeve of his jacket, McKay couldn't move. He was frozen to the spot as Kolya came nearer and nearer with the syringe, but even though his body was frozen his mind was still working furiously.

_'That's not the same amount of the enzyme I took to escape Ford's, but it's more than the amount I took in the cave. So he must be trying to get me addicted to the stuff again, but why? Oh no! So he can send me back to Atlantis after a sufficient period without the enzyme so I go through a dangerous with drawl again! Oh god! NO! I can't let that happen! Come on McKay move you damn arm! Move I say!'_

Finally he managed to gain some control over his arm and tried in vain to jerk his arm away from the oncoming needle, but he soon felt the point of the needle pierce his skin followed by the cool rush of the enzyme entering his body. Everything was lost in the cool sensation as it washed over him, he couldn't help but smile as he felt the sweet relief as all pain was taken away. He closed his eyes for a moment letting the sensation go all through him, he felt strong, but not strong enough to take the guards. Not yet anyway.

"There we go Doctor. You're first dose, how do you feel?"

"Goooood." He said without even thinking about it, he hadn't realised he'd missed the enzyme this much.

"Very good, well we'll leave you now Doctor. Good-bye"

Rodney didn't even notice the guards releasing him or the door closing, all that he knew was that this was very, very bad! He shouldn't be like this; he had gone without the enzyme for months now! Months! He had been doing so well, and now it was back to square one, well a much harder square one than ever before.

Without even thinking about it he began to pace the length of the cell, and soon enough it turned into a slow jog. He suddenly had all this energy that was going nowhere, he needed to run, to be free.

_'But wait, if I get another dose tomorrow I might be able to take those guards. Like I did with Ford's guards. Who were big and dumb and I fought them off with my bear hands! I was amazing! Anyway focus! Come on McKay you've only had a small dose, how are you gunna cope when it gets bigger? Focus! We need a plan!'_

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_Hope you enjoyed it, please do review. That way I know if I'm doing a good job and I can improve my writing technique._

_Thanks :)_


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry about the delay in this chapter, it's been very hectic resently, with injuries left, right and centre. Hope this one's okay. And the next one will be up soon.

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"We searched as much of the planet as we could, it doesn't look like the Genii have ever been there." John said wearily, Telya and Ronon nodded but kept quiet. Elizabeth watched all three of her flagship team, occasionally she found her gaze falling on the empty chair where Rodney should be sitting, spouting off some explanation or else complaining about the food that the Daedalus had brought.

"There are many planets that the Genii know of, and I am sure that Ladon would be happy to give us information on any small bands of rebel Genii." Teyla said looking hopefully at Elizabeth, praying that she would see the sense in this. But it was Ronon who answered first.

"I wouldn't trust Ladon as far as I could throw him."

"And that's pretty far!" John said smiling slightly, and with this the tension in the room seemed to ease. Ronon's use of an earth phrase also helped to bring the warmth back into the room.

"I want you to keep searching," Elizabeth said, looking at each of the three people in turn, "I want us to find him before it's…it's…too late." She finished trying to fight off the tears, which were threatening to appear and cascade down her cheeks. She had to still be strong, when all this was over she could let it out but for now she must keep it together.

John saw the slight watery look in her eyes and stood quickly, knowing that this meeting was over.

"We'll find him!" He said with confidence he didn't have, as he walked out of the briefing room followed by Ronon and Telya. Soon it was just Elizabeth left in the large room alone, and for a little while she let her emotions get the better of her.

XXXXXXXXX

John watched the Atlantis gate dial for the umpteenth time, once again they were going out into the unknown to search for McKay, but never before had he felt so hopeless. Never before had all his ideas and confidence disappeared without a trace.

"Sheppard?" John looked up quickly to see his team looking worriedly at him; he gave them a reassuring smile before walking towards the awaiting event horizon. He turned back briefly to look up at the control room at Elizabeth, and he saw her there with slightly red eyes. He ignored this fact knowing that she would not answer any questions, he nodded at her before stepping through the gate and out onto another planet.

XXXXXXXXX

"Where's the DAMN enzyme?" Rodney was pacing around him small dingy cell, wringing his hands as they began to shake violently. " It's late! I NEED IT!" He yelled at the dark door as he passed it. "Please! Please just give me something." He begged as he fell to his knees, his eyes beginning to sting as he began to cry.

The large door creaked open and he heard footsteps coming towards him, he lifted his tear-stained face up and saw the glint of a syringe in the hand of one of his captors. His face broke into a smile of relief, he stood quickly and extended his arm expectantly, but the guard looked at him for a moment before retreating back to the door.

"What?! No! Please!" Rodney shouted as he ran towards the guard, but the man only smirked and closed the door with a loud bang.

Rodney collapsed on the floor in despair; his plan had failed once again. He had hoped to be able to take the enzyme, defeat the guards and get out of here, but now when he next got the enzyme he'd be unable to even stand from relief.

"Shit!" he said quietly, before he crawled back to a wall and lent his head back against it. He could feel pain shooting through his legs, and his mind was beginning to fog up with strange thoughts. He could feel his grip on reality begin to slip, he knew that soon he would be ranting and raving about anything, everything to try and get the enzyme into his system. He had done the same to Carson, he couldn't quite remember what he'd said but he had guessed it must have been pretty terrible. He could remember Carson looking at him in that wounded Scottish way that always seemed to hit him rather hard.

"Doctor McKay." Rodney's head snapped back to the door as Kolya's voice floated through from outside, "I believe that my guards have been denying you the enzyme for sometime now. Would you like some?" Rodney's eyes narrowed suspiciously; surely Kolya wouldn't offer to give him the enzyme nicely. There had to be a catch somewhere, this didn't make sense. But his body was aching, and he knew that if that door opened and he saw one glimpse of enzyme he'd be flying out of that door, grabbing the needle and plunging it gratefully into his arm.

"Well? Yes or No, because I could quite easily walk away now."

"NO!" Rodney yelled lunging at the door, his arms outstretched, pleading. "Please give me the enzyme!" McKay could almost hear the smirk when Kolya next spoke,

"Very well, guards open the door."

XXXXXXXXX

"Sheppard!" Ronon called from, well wherever it was that he had managed to hide. John began to look everywhere for him, until suddenly a large figure dropped down from a tree next to him. John Sheppard being a military man didn't jump, he was used to surprises but he did give the runner a raised eyebrow look before saying.

"Neat." Ronon gave that half smile that he sometimes made when something amused him but he didn't feel that he could actually express the feeling. "Did you find anything?" John continued, looking hopefully around the clearing they were in, as if he was expecting to see McKay emerge from shadows at any moment.

"Some kind of building. Looks uninhabited, but…" Ronon's voice trailed off as he gazed in the direction of the building, John knew what he was trying to say and nodded curtly. He touched his radio

"Teyla, come in." After a few seconds he heard her voice crackle into existence,

"What have you found John?" He could hear the hope in her voice,

"Ronon's seen some kind of building, we're going to head that way now. Stay near the gate, just in case we need to make a quick exit."

"Okay, good luck." Teyla said, before the radio cut off and the clearing was once again in silence.

"Well, off we go."

XXXXXXXXX

A young man with dark brown hair was sat in a small office, his hair fell into his tired and bloodshot eyes and he flicked it away hurriedly. The man was sat behind a small desk with files and papers all around him, if he wasn't careful one wrong move and the whole lot of it would end up covering him.

But he needed to get this all done, if he didn't this building would be closed and all it's troops would be recalled. He couldn't let that happen, all the men here would lose their jobs. Who would look after their families? He shuddered as he thought about the number of families that might be forced into the street if they couldn't pay the "government" anymore. Ha government, it's not much of one. They overthrow one man, to have another one take over and try to make them feel like they're in a democratic world.

"Stupid." He muttered, before he stood up and stretched. Even though his office was relatively small he still had a window that looked out over the forests surrounding this building. He could even see so far as the great ring!

He loved looking out of this window; it made this job so much better to be able to see such a wonderful view outside. Suddenly he caught a glimpse of movement near the edge of the tree line, two figures were approaching the building cautiously. One he recognised immediately as one of the men from Atlantis, but the other? He had no idea, and he didn't much want to find out. He ran quickly towards the door out of his office, and into a long corridor. He swung around the bends and finally came to another office, which held a magnificent microphone; he grabbed it hurriedly and turned it on.

"Attention, we have intruders! Everything must be hidden!" He could hear his voice booming out across the hundreds of speakers around the building, and knew that instantly hundreds of scientists were packing up their experiments. In order to fool these people they had to appear as if they were just here to, well explore the planet. Even if the treaty between his people and the Atlantians was supposed to be one of sharing all knowledge, some secrets just had to be kept to preserve the normal way of life.

He heard running footsteps behind him and turned in time to see a young scientist by the name of Pilop Genwres coming towards him, he saw the fear in the young man's eyes and smiled reassuringly at him.

"Why have they come here Atir?" Pilop asked watching his superior carefully, trying to see if he had any idea as to why people had come to this planet.

"I'm not sure, but we will find out soon."

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Please do read and review :) 


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry this has taken so long to be put up, once again things seem to be happening to prevent me writing. But because of the time it's taken to write it, this chapter is a nice long one.

Thanks to all who have reviewed so far, I have really enjoyed reading them. I hope this one is okay.

I do not own any of the characters from Atlantis, just my little made-up Lieutenant Ackerman :).

Anyway enjoy.

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Ronon was watching the complex in front of him with deepening suspicion; he had not expected to be able to approach it so easily. Sheppard believed it to be an abandoned facility, but Ronon didn't agree. He knew that if it were abandoned then the path would not have been as worn down as it was, also the buildings exterior has one section where the dirt and dust appeared to have been brushed away. It was a subtle mistake, but one that could easily be spotted by someone with a keen eye for detail.

He couldn't decide whether to break apart Sheppard's little hopeful fantasy that this huge facility was abandoned, or if he should let him carry on in this vain until he went wrong.

He stole a quick covert look at his teammate and decided instantly, he knew how worried he was about McKay; those two were like brothers although neither would dare to admit it. Ronon had to work so hard so as to not smile when the two were bickering together, and right now he'd give anything to have the whole team back together.

"Sheppard, this place isn't abandoned." Next to him he heard John sigh, he didn't dare look at his friend just in case he saw a glimmer of weakness. Ronon had never seen John look weak before, he had always been the strongest in the team, maybe not physically but mentally. He'd survived being turned into one of those strange bug things, and he had managed to destroy more hive ships then should be humanly possibly. And now he was crumbling slowly, this was worse torture than having 50 Wraith suck the life out of you. Ronon hated seeing how the disappearance of McKay could cause not only Sheppard to fall but also all the inhabitants of the city, even the great city itself seemed dimmer than before.

"Ah, I was kinda hoping we'd be able to have just one bit of luck today." John said quietly, he clicked his radio on,

"Teyla."

_"Yes Colonel?"_

"We've found the building but Ronon thinks it's occupied. We're going to check it out, can you let Elizabeth know what's going on?"

_"Of course. We'll wait by the 'gate for your return."_

"Thanks. We'll maintain radio silence for the time being." He turned his radio off quickly, and turned back to Ronon.

"Well after you big guy." Ronon's half-smile returned, but he hid it quickly by turning towards the building. Now they would see what was hidden in there, he couldn't deny that his curiosity had peeked and he was desperate to know what was inside there.

XXXXXXXXX

"Let him down." A cold, merciless voice called from the shadows, the voice was unmistakable and Rodney's ears had become accustomed to its tones. He felt the two guards who had moments before been beating the 'beejesus' out of him, grip his wrists and untie the shackles that bound him to the wall.

He tried to stand but his legs would no longer support his weight, he was now being held up by the two 'goons' and he didn't like it. He liked to be in control, he liked to know that he could do what he wanted when he wanted. And being held in place by two, six-foot men with biceps the size of his house, wasn't what he considered to be 'in control'.

"Now, Doctor McKay. Have you had enough?" The voice was laced with just the right amount of fake concern, that Rodney actually opened his mouth to say 'yes', but he caught himself just in time and clamped his mouth firmly shut. He'd been around Sheppard long enough to know that when the enemy asked you that question, never answer! If you answer 'yes' they'll smirk in that evil way, and hoist you back up on the wall and start it all over again, and if you answer 'no' they'll do the same. If you stay quiet then normally they get very annoyed, and may if they're feeling generous send you back. This was not the case however,

"Very well," He nodded at the men, who promptly picked him up easily and put him against the wall,

"WAIT!" Rodney yelled, he knew that he wouldn't be able to stand another session. "Please, don't! Please, let me have the enzyme! Please!" The urgency in his tone did nothing to soften Kolya's resolve; Rodney could see already that it was a lost cause. He would be tortured again, until he told them what they wanted to know. Then he would get the enzyme, but he wouldn't give Kolya the satisfaction of seeing him give in, not yet.

His arms were bound once again to the wall, and the two guards took up their positions at either side of him, ready to take blows at his already badly bruised ribs.

"We shall start again, what is the code that will lower the shield on the Atlantis Stargate?" Rodney looked Kolya straight in the eye and said

"Hmmm, well you know I'd really rather not tell you that." Before he could even begin to be proud of his magnificent comeback, which was worthy of John Sheppard, he was rewarded by a swift flurry of fists, each connecting with a different rib. Even through the pain, he couldn't help but feel a slight touch of admiration for the guards, how on earth they managed to get a blow on each consecutive rib was beyond even his understanding.

"I shall ask you again. What is the code that will lower the shield on the Atlantis Stargate?" Kolya began to pace in front of him, his face mostly in shadow but occasionally when he passed by a light Rodney could see the terribly smirk that was ever present on his face.

"Umm…still not going to tell you." Another frenzy of blows ensued, and he knew immediately that one rib was broken. The pain was almost unbearable; there was no way he could carry on for much longer. Not without the enzyme in his system.

"You have one more chance to redeem yourself Doctor, what is the code to deactivate the shield around the Atlantis Stargate?" This time he didn't say anything, the breath seemed to have been knocked out of him, and instead of punches there was a terrible poke on his injured rib. As the finger dug into his skin and touched the broken bone, he felt a scream of agony well up inside him and suddenly it exploded out of him. He could hear the two guards sniggering, and Kolya was no doubt smirking once more. He felt tears stream down his face as the pain intensified, his vision was blurring and he knew that sweet darkness would come soon, though whether it be death or unconsciousness he neither knew nor cared.

Suddenly he felt the pressure on his rib disappear, and the stinging sensation of a needle being slipped into the crook of his arm. He felt the warm rush of elation as the drug he had craved so much came rushing into his system. He slumped on the wall, feigning unconsciousness but really waiting. He had been waiting for an opportunity to escape from here, and now was his chance. If he could get away whilst they were dragging him to his cell then no one would know! The only problem would be his rib, but with the enzyme in his system all pain was fading.

"That is enough for today, take him back to the cell. We shall resume this tomorrow, when he is in a more co-operative mood." Kolya's footsteps moved away and the two guards once again unshackled him, and dragged him unceremoniously through the open door at one end of the room and out into a long grey corridor. He let them carry him for a while, mentally checking the map in his mind.

'_When we get to the 3rd left then we can go for it. Then we can get home! Okay why are you thinking about yourself in the third person? Oh no, it's the drug isn't it! Oh no, Carson's not going to be happy! Oh well, who cares about Carson. Must take out the guards. Ah Ha!" _

Sure enough they had arrived at the 3rd left, the two guards shifted his weight, about to continue on their long journey when he began his attack. With the effects of the enzyme still present in his body he was able to deliver a few well-placed blows to his tormentors, unfortunately because there were two of them it made it harder to keep an eye on them. He did receive a few blows to his face, but he was able to parry most of them and eventually the two six-foot goons were lying in groaning heaps on the floor.

"And that's what happens when you drug a brilliant scientist!" He said quietly, as he reached inside their jackets and pulled out two small vials filled with red liquid. He needed at least a bit of the enzyme to keep him going in here.

"And now, to home." He said with a smile, and he quickly hurried off along the corridor, every so often checking his mental map.

XXXXXXXXX

Teyla and the young Lieutenant that had accompanied them on this journey were stood in front of the 'gate waiting for something, anything to happen. Teyla could not deny the fact that she was frustrated at not being able to do anything! She was stuck here whilst her friend was out there somewhere, having something terrible done to him.

It hadn't been long since she had last spoken to John, and he had proclaimed that they should maintain radio silence, but already the wait was becoming insufferable. She had dialled Atlantis immediately, but now she was stuck here waiting and wondering. All her senses were on high alert in case something attacked them, but there was a part of her that wasn't focused, wasn't even fully aware of where they were or what they were doing. It was this part that so often led to the rash actions that she would occasionally perform, whilst under immense strain. Normally she could keep a lid on it, and would not let it affect any of her other senses, but now she seemed unable to concentrate properly. Every thing she did seemed to take a lot of conscious thought and effort, nothing came naturally anymore.

The young Lieutenant, whose name Teyla had come to realise was Lieutenant Ackerman, was patrolling the perimeter of the gate. He had short blonde hair, and very distinguished features. She had heard many of the female members of the Atlantis expedition express an interest in him, although she could not see the attraction. He was good looking in a sense, but he was too quiet and brooding, and nothing anyone did seemed to bring him from his usual gloomy manner. He had been pacing ever since they had gotten back to the gate, and she was beginning to tire of it. But if he felt that his time would be better spent patrolling the perimeter, then she would let him.

Suddenly the 'gate activated with a 'whoosh', both herself and Lieutenant Ackerman turned to stare at the blue event horizon. Then as one they both raised their P-90s and pointed them at the ring, both unsure of what to do. The trees that would have provided ample cover, were too far away, even if they had started to run when the 'gate first activated there would have been no chance that they would have reached the cover in time.

So both stood, guns held at the ready, staring intently and the shimmering water-like event horizon, until a voice came through on Teyla's radio.

"_Teyla? Do you read?"_

Teyla visibly relaxed at the sound of Elizabeth's voice drifting her earpiece. She put a hand to the side of her head and spoke into her radio,

"Yes Elizabeth?"

_"Ah Teyla, I need you to contact Colonel Sheppard and Ronon straight away and then come back to Atlantis, we've received a tip-off from Ladon that there's a dangerous Genii faction on that planet. And I don't particularly want to annoy them at this precise moment in time."_

"Of course Elizabeth. We'll be back soon."

Teyla touched her earpiece once more, and the 'gate shut off. She turned to Lieutenant Ackerman who had appeared suddenly by her side; luckily she had been trained to expect the unexpected and did not show her surprise at his presence.

"We must find the Colonel and Ronon, then we must leave this planet. If there is indeed a Genii faction on this planet then it is quite likely that they already know of our presence, we should not linger." She began to move off but was stopped by Ackerman's voice, it was deep and husky.

"But if they have already been alerted to out presence and haven't done anything about it yet, then surely we're safe. They wouldn't try something now, we've been here a good hour already."

"The Genii are a surprising race." She said coldly, as she turned and began to jog towards the trees and her friends.

XXXXXXXXX

"Son of a…" Colonel Sheppard's curse was cut short by the sound of a snort of amusement from Ronon Dex. He appeared to be having a very good time, just watching John make a complete fool of himself.

"Well if you're so capable, you have a go." He said in an almost perfect imitation of McKay, which wiped the smile of Dex's face instantly.

"Okay." He replied simply, and pulled out his blaster. Aiming it at the door he fired, and John had only a few moments in which to fling himself away from the door and to safety before it was blown to smithereens.

"Nice." He said half appreciative, half annoyed. He stood quickly and stuck his head through the sizable hole, which the Satedan had made in the once immovable door. There was nothing threatening behind there, or at least there wasn't now. Judging by the bits of shrapnel still falling, the blast had been enough to take out at least a dozen men standing in the corridor beyond.

"Well, we're in." He said nonchalantly, and he began to pick his way through the hole. When he had finally managed to get into the corridor, he could see that it hadn't been used for years, possibly even decades. There were cobwebs, yes cobwebs!

_'Yuck spiders, why spiders? Or at least the Pegasus equivalent of spiders._' He thought, just managed to suppress a shudder as he heard Ronon climbing effortlessly through the door.

"Lot of dust." Dex said unhelpfully, and John felt his temper rising. It had seemed to be ever so close to the surface recently, and it took a lot of effort to keep himself from exploding into a tirade whenever someone annoyed him.

"Yep, let's carry on going see if we find anything else, other than dust." His voice was quiet, but Ronon seemed to have gotten the message that now was not the time to annoy Sheppard. They moved along in silence, both on the alert for any unusual sounds.

_"Colonel Sheppard?"_ He flinched at the loud voice issuing from his radio,

"Teyla I thought I said maintain radio silence!"

_"Yes John but we have just received intelligence that there is a Genii faction hidden on this planet. We have been trying to reach you for some time, but it appears that the signal could only penetrate this building when we are near it. We had hoped to reach you before you entered it, but I am guessing from the rather large hole in the wall that you are already inside?"_

John could hear the suppressed laughter in her voice, and couldn't help but smile himself.

"Yeah, we're inside. What did Atlantis say to do?"

_"We are to return to Atlantis immediately."_ John hung his head, there was no way they could get away with disobeying Elizabeth's orders now. Not after Rodney's disappearance. If anything happened to any of them she'd never forgive him, and he'd never forgive himself.

"Okay we're headed back to you." He clicked his radio off and turned around, and together with Ronon he walked back to the sunlight to meet Teyla and the young Lieutenant.

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Ah no! Poor John not getting to explore the nice building, well I'm sure we'll revist it soon :P

Please do review, I absolutely love reading them. :D


	4. Chapter 4

The Stargate blazed into life, sending alarms ringing all over the gate room, Elizabeth ran from her office hoping to see her flagship team alive and well (for once). As the Canadian technician saw her, he flashed her a quick smile and nodded,

"It's Colonel Sheppard's IDC."

"Lower the shield." She returned his smile and ran to the steps, to find her team along with the new Lieutenant Ackerman, walking dismally through the 'gate and into Atlantis.

"Sorry to pull you out of there Colonel, but I couldn't risk it." She didn't need to say anymore, all three members of the team understood why she had done it. Only Ackerman looked peeved to have been brought home so early, but he was wise enough not to say anything. Although it may have been the sight of Ronon, with his hand resting lightly on his blaster, that did the trick.

"We'll debrief in one hour." She gave them a quick nod, and with the faintest trace of a smile she turned back towards the stairs.

XXXXXXXXX

_The walls around him seemed to be closing in, the air was becoming hard to breathe and the more he struggled for breath the less oxygen seemed to be in here. He felt like a fish out of water, unable to maintain life in these conditions. _

_His arms were flailing in front of him trying to propel him towards oxygen, but nothing was happening. He was stuck in a room, with no way to escape. The lights around him were beginning to flicker; strange instruments around the room were beginning to float of their own accord. His eyes widened as he saw a strange, sharp object floating towards him, it's blade slicing the air in front of it. _

_He tried to scramble away from it but he was rooted to the spot, unable to even wiggle his fingers or toes. The blade came nearer, slicing the air threateningly. It was three feet away, still slicing the air…_

"Colonel! John!" John Sheppard jumped; the voice that had woken him from his terrible nightmare was that of Elizabeth Weir. She was crouched next to him on the cold floor of the briefing room; behind her he could see Ronon and Telya watching him. Teyla's eyes showed her concern, whereas Ronon was as usual showing as much emotion as a brick wall.

John raised his head slowly, trying to rid his mind of the terrible images. Soon he was sat upright and able to stand.

"John?" He raised his eyes to look straight into Elizabeth's face; he could see that there was no use lying to her.

"Nightmare, we've had a rough time. I've not been getting much sleep." Elizabeth nodded, but her eyes were still full of concern. He knew that she was going to recommend that he should go and see Carson after this debriefing, but whether or not he took her advice was up to him, and so far he wasn't going anywhere near the infirmary until Rodney was found.

He sat gratefully into his seat, figuring that he must have fallen off it in his sleep. The others followed his lead and sank back into their seats, but all their eyes were still fixed on him. He felt like an animal at a zoo.

"Shall we continue?" He asked pointedly, thankfully Elizabeth seemed to take the hint and cleared her throat. This grabbed the attention of the other two, but he knew that he would be pursued by all three of them at the end of this meeting.

"Where were we? Ah yes, the Genii faction," Elizabeth turned to the screen, which Rodney normally operated, and pushed several buttons on a remote control, "Ladon has told us that there are still a number of Cowen's supporters at large across Pegasus. They have secret bases on different planets across the galaxy, but the Genii have not been able to locate all of them. He has admitted that he only knows of about a handful of the rebel groups, it was one of the old members of Cowen's security forces who told him about the others..." Elizabeth's voice was becoming fainter; it all seemed to blend into one spectacular monotonous rhythm. He felt his eyes wandering, seeing into a far off land where the green fields were devoid of Wraith or other enemies. A place of peace, which he would one day find.

"John?" This time it was Teyla's voice, which brought him sharply back down to Atlantis, she was stood by his chair, evidently the briefing had finished. He shook himself mentally and stood quickly, the room was empty apart from the two of them.

"What is wrong John?" She asked, her voice full of friendly concern.

"Nothing." He could see immediately that she didn't believe him, so he expanded "We've been through a lot. Hell we're going through a lot, and all I want to do is find Rodney." She smiled kindly at him, before taking hold of his shoulders and bowing her head. He lowered his head until it met with hers.

The Athosian way of saying so many things: goodbye, I'm glad to see you, I'm here for you etc. It was the most enjoyable of all of their customs, he thought.

XXXXXXXXX

Rodney half walked, half stumbled through the long corridors of the huge complex. It was impossible to tell how long he had been walking, but he couldn't hear the sound of an alarm so he assumed that his escape had not been detected.

"Not much further, not much further." This chant had been going on for sometime now, but his mouth seemed unable to stop forming those three words. They were spoken over and over again in the dull, still corridor, giving him some form of security.

He came to a fork in the corridor; there were two ways to go. One he knew led to the outside and freedom, and the other led to the armoury. Now it was to decide which way to go. Oh he knew which way led to freedom, but he wanted to cause as much damage to this hellhole as possible!

_'Left or right? Choose McKay, choose for heavens sake! Destruction or freedom, destruction or freedom.'_

With a deep breath he took the left hand path, and began jogging down it. The enzyme still flowing through his system, enabling him to keep a pace that he normally would not have been able to keep. He hurried down the long corridor, looking backwards occasionally just to make sure that he wasn't being followed. The closer he came to his destination the more nervous he became, but this wasn't his normal nervousness. This time he was getting excited as well, excited at the prospect of doing what he'd wanted to do ever since he had arrived here.

XXXXXXXXX

Elizabeth was sat in her office pouring over paperwork, yet again her desk could not be seen under the small mountains of letters and paper that had accumulated there over the past few days. There were all manor of things left clumsily on her desk, ranging from letters to families from members of the Atlantis staff, to accident reports from the scientists and occasionally the marines. Usually she would work quickly and efficiently, sorting out the letters that were to be sent to families and the letters that were to be sent to the SGC for their ongoing investigation into the Wraith and the Ancients.

For the past few days however, she had been unable to concentrate. She had often picked up a piece of paper and begun to read it, before she gave up and threw it back onto the desk. Then she would stand up and go to the large window of her office and stare down at the 'gate, willing it to activate and allow Rodney McKay through. But so far no word had come through the Stargate about him, no one had seen hide or hair of him.

She was worried. She didn't like it when any of her people were missing, but McKay was almost an asset to this expedition. It didn't seem right to enter the labs and not see Rodney shouting at the other scientists about their mistakes. He had always been there, always been either shouting at the others or jumping around like a small child on Christmas day, because he had found some new way to make the running of Atlantis more efficient.

But now Atlantis was empty, the city was dull. It too seemed to be missing the Chief Scientist, but Elizabeth was missing a friend. A good friend, one who had been there all the time, even though he hadn't really been sure what a good friendship was.

Elizabeth sighed as she once more dropped a piece of paper back onto her desk; her mind was once again on her Chief Scientist.

At this point in time she would give anything to see him look at all of them with one of those looks which said 'I can't believe you're all so stupid, but at least you've got me'. Normally those looks of superiority annoyed her, and she would respond to this look with a quick role of her eyes after which she would glare at him until he became a bit embarrassed and turned away.

She knew that the longer he was away, the more likely it was that he wasn't coming back. But she wasn't about to give up on him, she felt sure that he was alive out there somewhere and all they had to do was find him.

She rubbed her eyes, shutting off the sight of her messy desk. She could hear the bustle of Atlantis all around her, the tapping of keyboards in the room opposite her, the general chatter of people as they went about their daily lives.

XXXXXXXXX

At last a door loomed up ahead of him, it was large and grey. His excitement grew as he finally reached it; he put his hand forwards and opened it. Beyond the door was a large room full of every type of weapon you could image, from Wraith Stunners to the Atlantis team's P-90s. McKay's eyes searched for something that could help him do as much damage as possible.

His eyes fell upon a weapon very much like Ronon's; he moved quickly towards it and picked it up. Turning it over in his hands he saw that it too had two settings, stun and kill no doubt. The only difference there was from the weapon in his hand and Ronon's was that this one was slightly longer, and had a strange button on the side, which was begging Rodney to press it.

_'Oh no, not yet. Well maybe, what harm can it cause? A LOT MCKAY!! Wake up! Focus, this job must be done!'_ With that he held the gun awkwardly and moved back to the door, as he reached it he looked down at the gun once more and switched it to 'kill'.

"No more Genii." He said quietly, as he opened the door and stepped once more into the corridor.

XXXXXXXXX

The Atlantis canteen was almost empty, only a few late night snackers were in there, enjoying the wonderfully, strange food that was supplied by the canteen staff. The food generally included a mixture of food from Earth and food, which the Athosians were growing out on the mainland. Many of the personnel from Earth had stayed away from the Athosian food, mainly because they had never before seen anything like this. They'd much rather let their friend eat it first, then if they don't drop dead from food poisoning then the food was probably okay.

John Sheppard was sat on his own, at a table far from any of the others in the room. He had a tray with a various assortment of barely touched food, and now he was playing with what appeared to be a blueberry muffin. He was pulling it apart with both a knife and his fingers, his eyes fixed on the little crumbs falling onto his plate and tray.

He had been sat there for about 20 minutes, just picking listlessly at his food. No one had come to sit by him, even though he was a highly popular person in Atlantis, they all seemed to have picked up on his mood. The mood that quite clearly stated 'come near me and I'll bite'.

"No!" The shout came from just outside the canteen and all in the room stopped talking and looked up, it was amazing how nosy everyone could be. John managed to drag himself from his daze and looked up at the door, through which the voice of Radek Zelenka could be heard.

"No! You cannot test weapon now! We do not know what is likely to happen! We need a more qualified person, and before you say anything, you Kavanagh are not qualified." Zelenka entered the canteen with Kavanagh trailing behind him,

"What?! I am qualified; I'm one of the most highly qualified scientists on this planet! We need to test this weapon! Do you have any idea of the benefits it could have for our other investigations?" Zelenka turned slowly, trying to keep a lid on a boiling rage.

"Look, I have already said, no testing weapon. We have no authorisation, and I am not willing to send out team of scientists into danger. I am in charge, what I say goes!" Kavanagh's eyes widened, as he stared at Zelenka with unmasked loathing before he turned and walked out of the room with his head held high, no doubt trying to nurse his bruised ego.

Radek shook his head tiredly, as he turned to look around the room. He spotted John and moved quickly to sit in one of the empty chairs around the Colonel, he was so tired that he didn't seem to notice John's mood at all.

"Nice doc, having fun trying to get Kavanagh to listen?" John asked with a slight smirk,

"Very funny Colonel. Oh yes, great fun trying to make other scientist's listen to me. They are so used to McKay, and his shouting." At Rodney's name John looked down at his muffin, or more correctly, his bits of what had once been a muffin.

"What if we do not find him?" Zelenka asked quietly, his eyes staring at John trying to work out the answer from his expression.

"We'll find him."

XXXXXXXXX

"What? Where now? Oh god I'm lost!" Rodney muttered to himself as he moved swiftly down corridor after corridor, everything looked the same to him but his feet seemed to know where they were going. He held the gun before him, his finger poised on the trigger. A part of him wanted an alarm to go off, and Genii to come pouring out of somewhere just so he could shoot. Another part of him that was still slightly sane, was disgusted by the part that wanted to put him into a remake of the Texas Chain saw Massacre.

Suddenly he came across a door set into the wall, his feet stopped moving and he turned to face the door. His hand reached out and pushed the door open, his face broke into a wide smile as he saw that he had reached his destination.

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Hope you liked it, please do review :D Thanks to all who have reviewed so far. 


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter, my mind went completely blank when I tried to write this so I had to give up and work on my other story. Ah well, the chapter's up now so I'll try to keep them coming thick and fast. Also thanks to all the people who have reviewed so far, all these reviews make me so happy ).

Enjoy

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Lights flickered on and off; several different consoles lined the four thick, lead walls of the room. Rodney looked around in awe; he had always wanted a lab like this. A massive room with lots of flashing consoles, which he could play with. He smiled broadly as his eyes fell on one particular console, one of the largest in the room with numerous buttons and dials across its surface. He hurried towards it, his fingers reaching out, desperate to know if it was real or possibly a figment of his already over stimulated imagination.

"Got to do this." He kept repeating to himself, his voice barely louder than a whisper. His fingers danced over the buttons and keys, as he typed in endless streams of calculations. Finally a loud beep sounded and he moved back from the console, his eyes sought for something. A large screen had appeared near the door, it read '10.00.00' and the numbers were going down rapidly. He threw one more glance around the room before he hurried out of the door, and down the corridor.

"Gotta get out!" He muttered as he ran down corridor after corridor, the weapon still clutched tightly in his hand. He could hear running footsteps behind him and sped up, the enzyme in his system allowing him to take up a ridiculously fast speed. The footsteps faded away and he continued to look for the way out, but all the corridors looked the same! He could only have about 6 minutes left until the complex blew! He felt sweat beginning to trickle down his forehead, he rubbed it away with a hand. He stopped at a fork in the corridors and looked both ways, there was no wonderful sign that read 'This way to get out', no telltale sunlight. He had to make his own **uninformed **decision!

"Okay…okay…left or right…simple choice…left of right…come on Rodney…faster…left or right!" He closed his eyes and let his feet carry him. He hurtled down the new path, his arms flailing out at odd angles, hitting the walls as he continued to run. Shouts were coming from behind him, the panicked yells from the Genii as they realised that they were going to die. He allowed a small grin to play across his face as he imagined their terror and confusion, but before he could think anymore a bright white light surrounded him.

XXXXXXXXX

John moved slowly and sullenly down the corridors of Atlantis, allowing his mind to wander aimlessly. His eyes were fixed on his feet, as they dragged him down the winding corridors. He had no idea where he was going; he only hoped that it would be far away from the shouting and screaming of the rest of the population of this fair city.

'_Rodney where the hell are you?'_ He thought glumly, as a door opened in front of him obviously sensing his approach. He finally brought his gaze up off the floor, and saw the beautiful sight of the sea. Normally this sight would have made him smile, but not today. He hadn't properly smiled in days! Not since…he couldn't really remember the last time he'd been laughing or joking with his team. His proper team, not just Teyla and Ronon and the occasional scientist that Elizabeth decided to stick with them. No! Teyla, Ronon and Rodney were his team! His only team! Without all of them he was nothing, no better then the next solider. He lent on the metal bar in front of him, as his gaze swept over the wonderful horizon. The sun was sinking slowly in the huge, blue sky and it was reflected in the rippling sea.

John sighed heavily, wondering how scenes like this could be so beautiful when people like Rodney were stranded on another world. Having God knows what done to him!

"Damn it!" He shouted banging his hand on the metal bar, finally letting out his anger. He'd been bottling it up all week, unable to really let it out except in the short sparring sessions he had with Teyla or Ronon.

He stared out at the sea, breathing heavily cradling his hand that was now sending throbbing pains up his arm.

'_Great move John,'_ He thought, _'just hit the metal bar why don't you! That'll make it all better!' _Even his thoughts were against him, he sighed and lowered his head. He knew that several of the expedition had already signed Rodney off as dead, but no he wouldn't do that! Rodney was out there somewhere, and was probably using his brilliant, genius brain to get back here!

XXXXXXXXX

In fact Rodney's brilliant, genius brain was for once completely blank. Unable to conjure up a single thought, as he looked around him. He was outside! Somehow he had found a way to get outside! He spun on the spot and almost fell over, his vision spinning dangerously.

"What? How? Huh?" He closed his eyes and pressed his palms flat against them, rubbing vigorously. When he opened his eyes everything would make sense! Surely it would! It had to! He opened his eyes slowly, and still found the same landscape in front of him.

Suddenly something clicked into place, and he remembered the self-destruct he had set.

'_Oh crap! This is bad! Very bad plan!'_ He thought as he began to run again, his arms pumping madly as his feet tried to keep a good fast pace. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears, as the adrenaline pumped through his system mixing with the enzyme to produce an even better high than before. He felt himself slow down, as a broad grin spread across his face. His thoughts were becoming blurred, as was his vision. Everything seemed a lot less important now.

'_I like this…it's calm._

_Rodney are you a complete and utter idiot?_

_What?_

_You're standing here like a complete prat, whilst the self-destruct in that complex counts down. You can only have…like…2 minutes left until the whole thing blows._

_Oh…that'd be bad._

_Of course it'd be bad! You'd die!_

_I would?! Oh God! RUN!'_

His vision still blurry he began to run again, trying to make out the shapes of trees and bushes. Several times he tripped over a tree root and found himself on the floor, every time this happened he began to giggle before he remembered that something bad was going to happen and he had to move.

In his head a timer was ticking slowly, as he counted down the minutes until the massive explosion took place, taking down Kolya and his men with it. No more Koyla! No more evil Genii factions! No more…drug induced highs! No more torture!

XXXXXXXXX

Elizabeth sat in her office, his eyes trying to focus on the mountain of paper work in front of her. The many mission reports, new discoveries and other such documents were mixed in the pile. All eagerly waiting to be read, but all would have to wait. She sighed and picked up her small laptop and pen, she clicked on the 'Solitaire' icon and the screen came up. She smiled slightly as she saw several moves she could make, and she began to play. Her mind happy at the 'challenge' rather than having to look at boring reports. These were the times when she hated being in command, the times when she had a three foot high stack of papers all waiting for her to sign them. Many a time she had wanted to just skim through them and sign them all without reading, but no she couldn't do that! That would be irresponsible! So she had resigned herself to the fact that she had to read every, single one and make sure her scientists and teams weren't going to blow up or destroy anything. This wasn't because she didn't trust them! Oh no, they just had a habit of finding dangerous artefacts and triggering a dormant, evil something or other. That then led to the threat of losing people, or even the city.

"Doctor Weir?" She looked up quickly from her laptop, and smiled as she saw Teyla standing in the doorway. She carefully put the laptop face down on the desk, hiding her game from the young woman.

"Yes Teyla?" She said beckoning her in,

"I am sorry to disturb you, but…" Teyla trailed off as she sat gingerly in the seat before Elizabeth's desk. Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at her, and motioned for her to continue.

"I am…eager to continue the search for Doctor McKay." Teyla said quickly, looking straight into Elizabeth's eyes.

Elizabeth wasn't surprised; she had expected to be accosted by John or even Ronon about being pulled off the search mission. But she had done this for a matter of safety! She couldn't allow her flagship team to lose any more members! So she had assigned several other teams to the mission, and each team had been sent to a different planet and all had returned with no new information and no Rodney. Elizabeth sighed as she brought her hands up on the table and lent forwards.

"I know you are Teyla, but I don't want to risk sending you, John and Ronon off again. You need time to…" What could she say? Adjust? To what? Life without Rodney? No one would ever be able to adjust to that, it would be too quiet.

"I promise that soon I'll send your team out again, let's wait until Major Lorne's team returns from MX2 316." Elizabeth said trying to smile, but failing miserably. Teyla nodded and stood giving Elizabeth a fleeting smile before she left the room hurriedly.

Elizabeth sighed as she picked up her laptop again and turned it off, resigning herself once again to the prospect of reading all of these reports.

* * *

Has Rodney cleared the explosion? Is Koyla dead? Are the team ever going to find him?

Hope you all enjoyed it, please do review.


	6. Chapter 6

_Firstly I'd like to apologise for the delay in this chapter, I have to admit that I'd lost all inspiration for this story and that my exams were really taking their toll._ _Thank-you to all you wonderful people who have reviewed my earlier chapters, and I hope that you still wish to read more of this story. _

_Thank-you._

* * *

Several sensations colliding together at once, was not the nicest thing to be awoken by. Especially when one of those sensations was a horrible burning pain all along his back, he let out a small hiss of pain as he tried to move.

'_Stupid, stupid Rodney! You had to go and blow yourself up didn't you!'_ His thoughts were ridiculing him once again, but he didn't care. All he cared about was the fact that he was in pain. He could feel himself shaking, and knew that the enzyme was quickly leaving his system. If he wanted to get out of here, then he needed to take some more. But if he took more, then he wouldn't have any for Atlantis and then…he shuddered at the vague memories from his last withdrawal. He'd accused Carson of a lot of nasty things, and he didn't want to repeat that!

All around him he could hear the sounds of disturbed wildlife, trying to find a safe place after that huge explosion.

"'M'sorry." He muttered, as he slowly raised his shaking arms and placed them on the ground underneath him. With a grunt of pain he lifted himself up off the ground and onto his knees. Rodney closed his eyes, as he waited for the pain to leave him. His thoughts turned to the little vial in his pocket, and his eyes flew open. Was it broken? His hands reached for the pocket, and scrabbled around inside desperately hoping to find one intact vial of enzyme. He let out a sigh of relief when his fingers closed around the small, cold vial and he pulled it out. It looked so beautiful, the answer to all his problems, and for a minute he was willing to plunge it into his vein right then and there, but he needed to keep it. Just in case he met someone who'd survived the blast, or he needed a pick-me-up on the way to the 'gate.

With a resigned sigh he put the small bottle back in his pocket, and pulled himself up using a tree as support. Rodney waited for a few minutes to allow his breathing to regulate, and his back to stop it's hissing, burning, smarting pain. When he was confident that he'd be able to move without much trouble, he began his journey towards the 'gate, hoping against hope that he remembered where it was.

XXXXXXXXX

"Elizabeth?" The call came from behind her, and she turned to see John jogging towards her. His expression was serious, and she felt her heart sink. He wanted to go on the search for Rodney again. Elizabeth didn't want to stop them going, but she was just worried about what might happen. They'd been to so many planets, and had turned up no leads, no clues, nothing that would indicate that Rodney McKay had visited any of them.

"John." She smiled at him, waiting for him to start his rant about not being allowed off world. She wasn't disappointed.

"Elizabeth, look. We need to get out there! Rodney's been captured, and I know you're tryin' to make sure that the rest of us don't get captured as well, but we've gotta go look for him! Ronon, Teyla and I are going nuts just sitting 'round here, whilst the rest of the city's busy trying to find him. We need to be out there looking for him! Please! Lorne thinks he may've found a clue on MX2 324, and my team should be the one to check it out." John's eyes were determined, and Elizabeth felt, deep down, that he was right. His team should be out there trying to find Rodney, but instead she'd kept them on a leash. Not allowing them to vent their frustration, and not allowing them to do what they do best.

"Okay." She said quietly,

"Really?" John seemed quite surprised at her willingness to let them go and check out this lead, so she raised an eyebrow at him. "I just…you know…thought that'd you'd put up more of a fight." He said, in an almost disappointed voice, and Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh.

"Go and get your team, we'll send a MALP to the planet first, check that it's safe then you and your team can go check it out."

"Thanks Elizabeth." John smiled awkwardly at her, before he jogged off to find Teyla and Ronon. It felt like a weight had been lifted as she watched him jog away, at last she had her best team out there looking for her chief Science officer, and she didn't feel guilty for making them stay in the city.

XXXXXXXXX

Trees. So many trees. That's the downside of having a forest surrounding an evil base, is the fact that you have trees everywhere. Horrible trees, that hold horrible insects like bees! Bees that buzz, and hover and sting you and cause certain scientists to have allergic reactions.

Rodney clambered his way through the forest, trying to ignore the pain in his back but failing miserably. He hadn't seen or heard any sign that the Genii had survived the explosion, and for that he was truly grateful. The only sounds he could hear were birds, and buzzing insects which although they were slightly comforting in a strange way they were also putting him on his guard.

After about ten minutes of walking non-stop, Rodney decided it was time for a break and he put his arm against a tree and slid down to the ground. He hissed as shooting pain spread up his back, but soon it was gone, to be replaced by the familiar smouldering feeling.

"Okay Rodney, we don't need to worry. I'm absolutely sure that this is the way to the 'gate. See I recognise that tree!…All trees look the same! How can you recognise one from the others?…I just can, okay? Now shut up, and let's start moving again…No I wanna take a break…Okay, so we can wait until one of the Genii who may have survived the explosion comes and finds us…Fine, fine let's go." Rodney stood slowly, and began to walk when suddenly he stopped.

"I'm turning into a schizophrenic!" He muttered, as he shook his head in despair before moving off towards the edge of the forest and hopefully the Stargate.

XXXXXXXXX

"The MALP's reached the planet." After a few more seconds of static on the screen, a clear-ish picture appeared before the assembled team. It was a beautiful clearing in a forest, with birds flying above the treetops.

"What's that?" Asked Ronon, tilting his head to one side as he watched the landscape.

"What's what?" John's own head was tilted, as he tried to spot what Ronon had seen. He wasn't having much luck, because all he could see was grass and trees.

"There," Oh yes, that was helpful. "Above the treetops." John squinted, and finally he saw it. A curl of black smoke, slowly making it's way up into the sky.

"That looks…interesting."

"Yes."

"So do we have a go?" John watched the leader of this expedition eagerly, reading her expressions as best he could. She seemed to be deliberating, and John could feel himself growing impatient,

"Okay, you have a go." Without another word his team practically ran down the steps from the Control room, and down the other steps to the 'gate. John nodded to Elizabeth before he hurried off to join them. They made sure that they had everything, before one by one they made their way through the event horizon. Each hoping that this time they'd find their scientist alive and well.

XXXXXXXXX

Finally Rodney reached the edge of the forest, and he could see the 'gate silhouetted in the clearing. The DHD was intact, but whether or not the Genii had removed the crystals was another matter. Untold damage could be done to the inside of it, which would mean that he couldn't get home. He'd be marooned here forever! Not something he particularly wanted to happen.

"Please let it be fine. Please let it be fine." He continued to murmur these five words, as he walked towards the dialling device. He was praying to any God, entity or ascended being that would listen that it was okay, and that the Genii had been stupid enough to forget to do something to the crystals. As he reached it, he bent down to check the crystals, biting back another hiss of pain. With some considerable effort Rodney finally managed to pull the panel away, and took a look inside at the crystals.

"Doctor McKay." Rodney felt his hackles rise, and the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He knew that voice. He'd hoped that voice was dead, burnt up in the explosion.

"Oh boy." He muttered, as he turned to face the man who'd tortured him beyond belief. Kolya was stood there, smiling coldly at him with a gun pointing directly at him.

"Now Doctor McKay, did you really have to blow up our facility?"

"Yeah, well….uhr…that kinda happens when you…torture…a brilliant scientist." Rodney could feel his hands shaking by his sides, and his feet were moving nervously. He really, really wanted the rest of the enzyme but if he took it now, what would he take when he was back on Atlantis?

"Torture is such an ugly word. We were just trying to get information, you made it difficult." Koyla advanced on him, the barrel of his gun pointing straight at Rodney's heart, which was beating abnormally fast. This was becoming an all to regular occurrence for him! It seemed that every time they went off world, one of them was confronted with a gun! This hadn't been in the job description; he knew this because he read all the small print. Several times!

"Now, I'm going to ask you one more time. What's the code that will bypass the shield to enter Atlantis?"

"Umm…" Rodney pretended to be thinking, but his feet and hands began to shift again, and he gave up the pretence. "Not gunna tell you." He could almost hear Koyla's finger tightening on the trigger, and he did the only thing that he could think of. He ran straight at the older man, and tackled him to the ground. The gun went flying out of Koyla's hand, as the two men landed heavily on the ground. Rodney let out a small scream of pain at the sudden movement, but he just managed to shake it off and he got to his feet, as quickly as he could, and legged it towards the forest. Behind him he could hear Koyla moving around, and soon several shots just missed him.

'_You idiot! You could've grabbed the gun!'_ He thought, as he ran as fast as he could through the forest. Suddenly he stopped and dodged behind a large tree, his hand flew to his pocket and he pulled out the small vial and a syringe. Quickly, and efficiently he attached the enzyme to the syringe, found the vein and injected the enzyme into his system.

A small sigh of relief escaped his mouth, as he felt himself melt away on an enzyme-induced high. But suddenly he heard Koyla's running footsteps not too far behind him, and he began to run again. Far off in the distance, he thought he heard the 'whoosh' of the 'gate activating, but he didn't know whether it was his drug-hyped imagination or not.

* * *

_I'm not sure how good that chapter is, because it's been about four months since I've written any Stargate Atlantis stories at all. But anyway, hopefully I'll get some more up soon._

_Thank-you for reading, and please do review. I love getting all reviews. :)_


	7. Chapter 7

This is a slight re-edit of this chapter and I'm hoping to get some more chapters up soon. I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update this, I lost all muse for it until I recently watched 'The Lost Boys' on television. Let's hope I can get this finished soon! Thanks for your reviews, favourites and story updates and I'm sorry I've made you wait so long!

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John stepped out into the clearing, and his grip tightened on the P-90 he was holding. There was something in the air, something that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Above the trees he could still see the black smoke curling up into the air, and his curiosity peaked. In front of him he watched as Ronon and Teyla scoped out the area, both warriors using all their senses to make sure that there was no danger nearby. John knew that he should really be doing the same, so after a few more seconds of staring curiously at the smoke and trees he turned his attention to the world around him.

"Coast looks clear." Ronon stated, walking closer to the trees his hand resting on his blaster. Teyla nodded her agreement, but her head kept turning around, looking at every single shadow in the forest around them. John guessed that she was making sure that she didn't sense any Wraith, 'cause the first whiff of those buggers and they'd better skedaddle.

"Okay, let's head towards the smoke. Best to see what's happened here." John headed towards Ronon, and soon passed him to enter the forest. He was silently hoping that McKay had caused the explosion and a part of him was saying, very loudly, that it seemed like a desperate McKay plan.

'_Please be Rodney. Please be Rodney.'_ He kept repeating those three words over and over again, as he started his walk through the forest. Behind him he could hear Ronon and Teyla walking swiftly, each no doubt doing the same thing; praying that Rodney was okay and looking out for any sign that he was still here. Suddenly a noise caught their attention. It sounded like a gun being fired, and it wasn't just any old gun. No, John recognised that type of gun, it sounded like a Genii gun.

'_Shit.'_ He thought, as he began to jog towards the sound. If the Genii were here then that really wasn't good! They had no way of knowing if this was yet another rebel faction, or if this was part of the group they'd become 'allies' with. Well John didn't call them allies; no he called them 'backstabbing, low life, good for nothing bastards' but Elizabeth had thought that that wasn't exactly the best name to present them with.

The firing was growing louder, and suddenly slightly maniacal laughter floated through the air. John's jog turned into a full out sprint, and soon Teyla and Ronon were on either side of him, all running full pelt towards the sounds. All hoping against hope that this time they'd find their scientist.

"You can't hide forever, Doctor McKay." John's eyes widened, he recognised that voice. Oh God, not that voice! Any voice but that one!

"Koyla." He heard Teyla mutter and his eyes narrowed and he felt anger rise in his stomach. That bastard had McKay, and now he was going to pay. As they neared the firing they slowed and finally stopped, crouching behind some bushes that offered sufficient cover. The gunfire had stopped and all three of them poked their heads around their hiding place, and tightened their holds on their guns.

"Doctor McKay, come on out. Don't play games with me." John wanted to just jump out of there, all guns a-blazing but he knew that if he did that not only could he endanger McKay's life but the rest of his team's as well. He wasn't about to put them at risk, and there was also the hope that McKay had some brilliant plan that would get him out of this.

"Oh, no…no games. No, just you know running and hiding. Actually I suppose it is a game, 'cause you're trying to find me and I'm hiding. So maybe hide-and-seek? Hmm, yeah suppose it's like that, yeah must be." Rodney was talking very fast, and he was babbling. This was not a good combination, when the scientist babbled it generally meant that he was scared. Well terrified would be the better word to use.

"Well, Doctor McKay, maybe you should stop hiding."

"Oh, why? So you can kill me with the big gun that you're holding, oh no I don't think so. I like it up here…oh bugger I just told you where I am. Stupid, stupid McKay! Sometimes you just can't keep your mouth shut can you?"

"He's in a tree?" Ronon whispered incredulously, it would appear that he like the other two had never known that McKay could climb trees. He didn't look like he had the strength or the right build to be able to even get up on a branch.

Kolya also seemed taken aback that McKay was up a tree, and he was glancing around at the branches above him quickly trying to find him before the scientist got an advantage.

"You know, if self-preservation wasn't so high up on my list then I'd show you where I am…but what would that achieve? You'd just shoot me, and that wouldn't be very good…no best that I hide and then you won't be able to find me…but if I keep on talking then you could follow my voice and find…oh bugger…" John's eyebrows knitted together in concern, McKay never rambled like that, not even when he was petrified. Something was wrong, and they had to act now. He glanced at the other two, and nodded once. They both raised their weapons and were about to step out from behind the bush, when something heavy dropped from a tree behind Kolya.

"Now it's my turn." John froze as he saw Rodney straighten up and lunge at the Genii, this couldn't be right. The scientist tried to stay out of trouble and away from danger whenever he could help it, so why was he jumping one of the most feared faction leaders of the Genii?

"We should help him." Ronon said, his eyes trained on the two figures before them. Teyla was nodding fiercely, and John saw no reason why they shouldn't weigh in. He nodded once more at his teammates, and they stood up from behind the bush, their weapons held high.

In front of them, they two men were fighting ferociously. Rodney was punching, kicking and even biting Kolya as he tried to win control of the fight, and what was even more worrying was the fact that he seemed to be winning.

Ronon practically ran towards the two men, and with a great effort dragged the scientist off of the old Genii warrior. John and Teyla both pointed their P-90s at Kolya, but it didn't look like he'd be getting up anytime soon. Kolya was panting on the ground, with blood pouring from his nose, a cut on his forehead and other scratches that the scientist had inflicted.

"Go, McKay." Sheppard whispered, as he looked Kolya up and down. Suddenly he heard Ronon curse loudly, and he turned to see the scientist pulling himself free from the Satedan and making towards Kolya once more.

"NO!" It was Teyla this time who tried to stop him, she stepped right in front of him and placed a hand on his chest. The scientist looked down at her, before he pushed her to one side. The Athosian was thrown against the bush they'd just been hiding behind, and McKay continued his advance.

The reaction was instantaneous; Ronon jumped forwards and hauled McKay off his feet before pressing him against a tree. John looked over at Teyla who was staring incredulously at McKay, her eyes seemingly asking why he'd done something so violent. None of them had ever thought he could be that strong, he could barely hold his own in a stick fight with Teyla so how come he was suddenly able to launch her across a clearing?

"You okay?" He asked, his eyes full of concern as he looked down at his teammate. When the young woman nodded and began to rise, the Colonel turned to gaze at the struggling scientist. This wasn't right, something was dreadfully wrong with this situation. His gun was still trained on Koyla who was clutching at his bleeding nose, apparently unable to stand as of yet. Once Teyla was back on her feet her attention turned from the scientist to the Genii and she raised her gun once more to point it directly at Koyla's heart.

"Rodney?" The Chief scientist was struggling hard and viciously against Ronon's grip, but he wasn't having much luck against the Satedan. "McKay?" John stepped forwards until he was standing in front of McKay, basically forcing the scientist to look up at him. The blue eyes, normally shimmering with excitement about some new discovery, were wild and the pupils looked strangely dilated.

"What have you done to him?" He rounded on Kolya, who had managed to lift himself onto his elbows, his gaze furious. What the hell had he done to him? Rodney looked as though he was drugged…His thoughts trailed off as he turned back to look at McKay, and then back at Kolya.

"You bastard!" He spat, and began to walk menacingly towards Koyla. He'd seen for himself the effects that Wraith enzyme had had on Teyla, Ronon, Ford and the others in Ford's little gang! He hadn't been present when McKay had had an overdose of the enzyme, but he recognised the symptoms of drug usage. Suddenly before he could raise his gun Teyla was in front of him, one hand on his arm. Her calm, brown eyes were looking straight into his and he nodded slightly. It would do no good to kill Koyla…yet.

"Sheppard, we'd better get him back." Ronon said, trying to keep a good hold on Rodney, which was proving quite difficult as the scientist was still struggling. John looked up at the Satedan and nodded again. They needed to get McKay back to Beckett then the good doctor could check him over and tell them what needed to be done. With a heavy heart he walked over to Kolya had dragged him to his feet, Teyla went to the Genii's other side and they began to pull him back towards the 'gate.

Rodney seemed to be calming down at the sight of Koyla being held at bay by two of his teammates, and Ronon was able to guide him through the forest quite easily. Koyla remained silent as they marched him through the trees, no doubt hoping that he would be able to make an escape attempt soon. John was not going to let that happen! Not when the guy had drugged his scientist, and then tried to kill him!

As they moved through the trees John could hear a variety of different sounds, ranging from birds singing in the trees to creatures skittering across the ground by their feet. It was amazing how some worlds could be so similar to Earth, in appearance and in the wildlife that lived there. When he'd first arrived in the Pegasus Galaxy he'd expected to be confronted with different species of both people and animals, but instead he'd found that most of the people that lived on these planets looked the same (as they all seemed to have come from the same gene pool i.e The Ancients.) and all the animals seemed to have the same characteristics. It kind of made each planet seem like home, which was nice when you were so often surrounded by the unknown and unfamiliar.

Finally the 'gate come within sight and John felt his heart swell with happiness, soon they'd be home and Carson could look after Rodney and bring him back to his old self.

"Okay, Teyla dial home." He said, watching carefully as the Athosian moved towards the DHD and began to dial Atlantis' co-ordinates. His eyes travelled back to Koyla, who was staring resolutely ahead. Rodney still seemed relatively calm as Ronon kept hold of him, but his gaze was also on the Genii. John was slightly surprised by the level of hatred that was on the scientist's face, it was beyond anything he'd seen before and he never wanted to see it ever again.


	8. Chapter 8

New chapter up, finally. Again I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update this chapter, as I said in chapter 7 I lost all my muse for this story but thankfully it's back. As you can tell...I couldn't stop writing this xD I'm so glad I've got my muse back and I really hope it'll stick around so I can finish this story.

As always please let me know what you think, I realised I had several plot holes swimming around here so hopefully some of those are answered here as well as some new, interesting questions being raised.

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Rodney shifted slightly as he stared at Koyla, hatred burning from deep within him. He wanted nothing more than to strike, maim, kill. If Ronon hadn't dragged him off the Genii soldier then he was quite sure he'd have beaten the other man to death. As he thought about the Satedan he felt the grip loosen on his arm slightly and he chanced a glance up at the taller man. His gaze was switching between Koyla and Teyla who was dialling the 'gate, taking them home.

Home. How he'd missed it! It could not have been more than a couple of weeks since he'd last been there, but it felt like years. Was that the drug meddling with his mind? Oh God, the drug. His hand flew to the pocket of his jacket, briefly touching the small vial that lay within. He breathed a small sigh of relief before his eyes widened, where was the other one? He'd taken two from the guards, so where was the other one? He needed two; otherwise he'd be left to go cold turkey again. He couldn't do that! They couldn't make him do it.

His hands began to pat himself down, his breathing becoming more rapid as he desperately searched for the elusive second vial of enzyme.

"McKay?" Ronon was pulling on his arm, trying to get him to focus on him and figure out what he was doing but Rodney didn't have time for him.

"No, no, no, no, no." He muttered as his hands travelled over his chest, eliciting a sharp cry as they accidentally hit upon his broken rib. He'd completely forgotten about that, even after tackling Koyla and practically falling on him from the tree the pain had been miniscule. The enzyme keeping him going and helping him to ignore any twinges from it. He knew Carson would have a fit when he got to the Infirmary.

"McKay what the hell are you doing?" The Satedan was growling at him now and if Rodney hadn't been quite so involved in his search he might have noticed the touch of concern that was just visible in the question. Instead he continued to search, fingers pulling at fabric as though the vial could have somehow been absorbed into his jacket or shirt.

"It's not here. Why isn't it here? It should be here. It's gone. Ronon it's gone!" His voice was rising both in pitch and volume as the 'gate began to move, spinning around as the first chevron lit. He knew John was watching him with concern, but he didn't care. It wasn't here anymore and he had no idea where it had gone. This wasn't fair! The Universe obviously hated him!

The grip on his arm tightened once again but he yanked himself out of it, managing to use all of his strength, which was now heightened by the enzyme, to take a few steps away from the larger man. It was then that his hands found the gun he'd taken from the compound. He pulled it out, staring at it for a few seconds before he rounded on Koyla and pointed it at him. His hand was trembling and he knew if he fired then there would be little chance of the blast actually hitting the intended target, but at that moment all he wanted to know was where more of the enzyme was. He needed it. Needed it more than he needed to get back to Atlantis and Koyla had to know where it was.

"Rodney?" John's voice seemed quieter than before, but Rodney didn't dare look at him. Instead he took several steps towards Koyla who turned to face him, a glint of something akin to satisfaction in his eyes.

"What have you done with it?" He cried, his voice shaking almost as badly as his hand. He could hear Ronon walking towards them but something told him the Satedan wouldn't stop him if he wanted to blow Koyla's brains out. Hadn't he earned that privilege? Wasn't it his right?

"What do you mean, Doctor?" Koyla's voice was full of silent laughter, it was obvious he was enjoying every minute and Rodney felt his finger tighten on the trigger. He took another few steps until he was only three foot away from the madman who'd imprisoned and tortured him.

"You've taken it. You've put it somewhere so I can't find it just so you can torture me all over again. That's it isn't it? You just hate the fact that I've won, that I beat you. You're doing this to spite me. I won't have it, Koyla. I'll-I'll shoot you if I have to!"

"Really? I highly doubt that, Doctor McKay."

"Oh and why's that?" The event horizon whooshed out towards them casting an eerie blue lighting across the scene.

"Because I'm saved." A smirk played across Koyla's lips as suddenly a bright beam of light engulfed him; when the light disappeared the Genii had gone. Rodney screamed, his cry echoing around them as he lunged for where the other man had been mere seconds before. He dropped to the ground and scoured the dirt, desperately seeking for anything he might have left, anything he might have dropped.

The gun was still in his hands, his limp fingers still hovering over the trigger.

"Rodney, we need to go." Hands were on his shoulders now, fingers brushing against the bruises and strained muscles and he felt another cry escape his throat. This couldn't be happening. It wasn't fair. He was going to die, he just knew it! Was there any point going back to Atlantis without the enzyme? He'd just be forced to go through that withdrawal all over again and he wasn't sure he could cope with that.

With a speed he could only achieve thanks to the drug coursing through his veins he jumped to his feet, ignoring the searing pain from his chest and back. He could see now it had been John who'd touched him but now the Colonel had taken a step backwards, staring at him in shock. Rodney's eyes were wide, he couldn't see properly anymore but still he raised the gun once again. Pointing it at each of his team in turn, he couldn't leave here. They could not make him leave.

"I'm not going – I can't go…something will happen. I don't want to die – dying would be bad. Really bad! You can't make me die, I'll live. I'll stay here and find more enzyme, Carson's not going to try and kill me again. I won't let him. Because he will you know. He'll try to kill me, really quietly so everyone will think it's an accident. This time I'm not trying to find you, so they don't need me. No one needs me, but I need the enzyme." He was babbling, words meshing together to create one incoherent rant. His breathing was fast and irregular once more, each gasping breath causing an agonising ache in his chest. His back still felt like it was burning, the back of his jacket no doubt ripped to shreds and letting numerous infections into the wounds.

John seemed to grow bolder as his rant progressed and he took a step closer, his hands held up in a surrender gesture. Rodney's wide-eyed gaze fixed on him, willing him to understand how he felt.

"Rodney, no one's going to kill you. You're not going to die; we're going to go home. Alright? We're going to go home and you can rest." The gun was shaking worse than ever, sweat was running down his forehead in rivulets causing his eyes to sting. He blinked rapidly as he tried to clear them, but all that managed to do was make his vision even worse. There was almost a red mist appearing in front of his eyes but beyond the red was comforting darkness, the world was turning into a tunnel.

The scientist could feel his finger tighten on the trigger almost involuntarily but before he could do anything else he felt a blast of something white hot hit him and he fell to the ground. The gun was plucked from his trembling fingers and then Ronon appeared in his line of vision.

"You didn't have to shoot him!" Came John's indignant voice, but Rodney's eyes were already drooping shut. He felt strong arms scoop him up and for some reason he felt relaxed; he allowed himself to drift off into the sweet, dark oblivion.

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John couldn't quite believe what had happened, it just didn't seem possible. The joy at finally finding Rodney had quickly been replaced by far too many emotions for one day; anger, fear, surprise and so many others. He knew he should be more worried about Koyla's escape, he should be wondering about where the hell the Genii got their hands on beaming technology but all he could think about was Rodney's face when he was pointing that gun at them.

There had been something behind his eyes, a deep, unsettling fear that John had only seen on his face a couple of times before and each time it made him want to wrap the scientist in cotton wool and never let him out of his sight.

Rodney wasn't a brave man, although he'd gotten better whilst on Atlantis but there were only a few times when true terror overtook him. He was sure it was all to do with the enzyme; his scientist was terrified that he wouldn't be able to survive without it and John couldn't help but find himself agreeing. He hadn't been told everything about Rodney's last encounter with it, he was quite sure he was being kept in the dark about some of the worst aspects of it but he'd seen Ford's withdrawal and it hadn't been pretty.

He watched as Ronon lowered his gun and the scientist dropped to the floor; within seconds he was kneeling beside him looking into those blue eyes and yet knowing that the other man wasn't seeing him. God this was awful. He glared at the Satedan as he came towards them, his hackles rising as he realised he'd stunned Rodney.

"You didn't have to shoot him!" He spat, unable to control his anger any longer, but Ronon simply grunted as he scooped McKay up in his arms and began to carry him towards the 'gate. Teyla was watching them with concern, her brown eyes flickering to the now unconscious figure of McKay before moving back to his own. She laid a comforting hand on his arm as they headed towards the event horizon.

How was he going to explain all this to Elizabeth? He pulled out his GDO and typed in SGA-1s IDC, before Ronon stepped through the 'gate not looking back at either of them. The Colonel had to wonder if he felt a glimmer of guilt at having to shoot Rodney, obviously he'd done it so that the scientist didn't kill any of them but that didn't mean that it was the right thing to do. They had no way of knowing if stunning him could adversely affect him. In his condition anything could be damn near fatal.

"He will be fine John." Teyla's voice was soft and he nodded curtly, trying desperately to believe that before he too stepped into the event horizon and felt the familiar sensation of being pulled apart at the seams and then eventually stuck back together on the other side.


	9. Chapter 9

Thank-you for your kind reviews, I'm so glad you guys are happy with these new chapters and I hope I can keep up and finish this story. Thank-you to all of you who've stuck with it, I know four years is a long time with no conclusion.

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Elizabeth Weir sat behind her desk, her head in her hands as she stared blankly at yet another form that had been placed on her desk earlier. She wanted nothing more than to forget about everything else in the city until they had Rodney back safe and sound, but she knew that wasn't an option. Atlantis had to keep on running despite her fear for her friend. So she'd been sat here for the past ten minutes reading and re-reading Doctor Kavanagh's latest request but not taking a single word of it in. This wasn't solely due to her brain being unable to focus on anything other than the teams she had off-world searching for Doctor McKay, no, the request was awful to read.

Kavanagh had not integrated well into Atlantis, in fact he was despised by scientists and soldiers alike but she had tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. However, every time she'd tried to be kind she'd been slapped in the face; this latest request was for an experiment deemed far too dangerous by Radek and she'd be damned if she went against his advice.

With a sigh she raised her head and stared out at the control room, her mind willing someone there to tell her the 'gate was activating. When no one so much as looked over at her she closed her eyes and let her head fall back against the chair. She needed sleep, she'd barely slept at all since Rodney had gone missing and she knew she wasn't the only one. Somehow whenever she placed her head upon the pillow and closed her eyes she was assaulted with images of Rodney, broken and bleeding, pleading for her help. Those sorts of dreams didn't lend themselves to a decent night's sleep.

Elizabeth listened to the noises of Atlantis, the sounds that made her feel so at home, more so than if she had been on Earth. It was strange how somewhere so obviously alien could feel so perfect for them all. Suddenly there was another noise, one she'd been straining to hear for the past however many hours. The sound of the 'gate activating. Within seconds she had flung herself out of her chair and was trying not to run towards the control room, she had to try and keep some poise about herself especially if it was not what she was hoping for.

As she entered the control room she was greeted by a great flurry of activity, people were hurrying towards their stations all wearing the same hopeful expression. She couldn't stop a sad smile appearing briefly on her lips; no matter how much people complained about Rodney's attitude or lack of manners they all missed him.

"Unscheduled off-world activation." Chuck called over the comm unit, his fingers tapping away on a laptop and ensuring that the shield would be raised the second the event horizon was stable.

The 'gate continued to spin, chevrons lighting up and locking until suddenly the event horizon shot out towards them before folding back in on itself. The security detail constantly posted around the Stargate moved forwards slightly, guns at the ready. She tore her eyes from the scene below her and looked towards Chuck, waiting to see if an IDC was present.

"It's Teyla's IDC." Elizabeth nodded, as she told him to drop the shield, then she was half-running down the stairs towards the 'gate hoping against hope that they wouldn't return empty handed. Teyla emerged first; she shot Elizabeth a strained smile before inclining her head once.

"Doctor Weir, I believe we will need a medical team." Elizabeth felt her face drain of colour, who had been injured? Had they found Rodney and he'd been badly hurt? Before she could put these questions to the Athosian, Ronon and John appeared through the 'gate and Elizabeth felt her breath hitch in her throat. In Ronon's arms lay the very still, pale figure of Rodney McKay; his eyes were closed and that alone was enough to put her on edge. She raised a shaking hand to her ear piece and called for Carson and a medical team to come to the 'gate room.

"Is he…" She couldn't even finish the question, she simply took a step forwards and laid a hand on Rodney's forehead. He was sweating, far too much and now she was closer she saw a feverish blush creeping up his neck.

"He's not good, Elizabeth." Came John's quiet reply, he had already signalled the marines to lower their weapons and she was somewhat surprised to see him shoot a glare at Ronon. The Satedan merely ignored it, more intent on holding Rodney until the medical team arrived. There was no time to say anything more before she heard Carson's voice calling out,

"Oh God, what's he got himself into this time?" There was no humour behind this question, instead pure concern was leaking from every word and when she glanced up at her chief surgeon she saw he was taking in every inch of Rodney's prone form with a frown. That was never a good sign. "Here, lad, put him on the gurney." Carson didn't wait for an answer to his previous question, probably not expecting to get one and instead turned his attention to Ronon who seemed rather reluctant to let go of the scientist.

Finally Rodney was placed on the stretcher and wheeled off towards the Infirmary; as much as Elizabeth would like to follow she knew that she needed a briefing, now. She needed to understand what had happened sooner rather than later.

"John," She called, stopping him just before he made to follow the procession of doctors and nurses. He looked back at her, the perfect picture of a soldier with stony, indifferent mask in place. "We need to have a debriefing."

"Can't it wait?" It was Ronon's turn to speak, his voice no more than a growl.

"Doctor Weir would it not be better for us to accompany Rodney for the moment and discuss what has happened later?" Teyla laid a hand on Ronon's arm, calming him with her touch but Elizabeth knew that that wasn't the best option. They needed to have all the information on the table now, then she would allow them to stay with Rodney.

"No, I'm afraid not. We need to discuss this promptly and then we can go and see Rodney. Carson won't let any of you near him yet, not until he's found out what's wrong with him."

"We know what's wrong with him!" Elizabeth's eyes widened at John's raised voice, he had taken a couple of steps towards her as though he hoped to intimidate her into backing down but she had gone up against scarier men than John Sheppard. She knew this was a harsh measure but it needed to be taken; if they left it longer then she'd never get them away from Rodney's side. She doubted she'd even want to.

"Please, John, it will only take ten minutes." Her tone was calm but he could not miss the hint of pleading that was laced within it. She needed him to do this for her, just once she needed him to listen and follow her orders. He didn't give any response, only turned away from her and hurried up the steps to the control room and headed towards her office. She managed to hold onto her sigh of relief until the other two members of his team had followed their leader. This was going to be a difficult debriefing.

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Carson hurried along next to the gurney, his penlight in hand as he shone it in Rodney's eyes three times and waited for the response. Slow. His brows furrowed slightly as he took in his friend's pale face, the flush creeping up his neck and the obvious bruising underneath his shirt. He needed to get him to the Infirmary and find out exactly what had happened.

Within a matter of minutes the gurney had reached the sanctuary of the Infirmary and they wheeled Rodney towards an empty bed. Soon he was placed on top of crisp white sheets and Carson was once again checking his pupils; they were still too slow to respond for his liking. They hooked the scientist up to several machines and Carson's concern turned to alarm as the heart rate monitor began to beep far too quickly.

"We need to get his jacket and shirt off now." He called to the three nurses around him as he placed two fingers over the pulse on Rodney's neck. There were times when he didn't quite trust the monitors in Atlantis, there were times when they were not quite as accurate as they should be and so he'd taken to employing the old fashioned methods on the odd occasion. However, this time the machine was most definitely telling the truth, Rodney's pulse was far higher than was normal for a conscious human being let alone one who was _unconscious_.

He grimaced as he saw the sweat dripping down Rodney's face, coating his hair and making him look feverish. It was awful to see his best friend in such a state and he wanted nothing more than to wrap him up in cotton wool and ensure this never happened again. This feeling intensified once the scientist's naked torso was revealed.

There were bruises marring almost every inch of flesh, the darkest of which were around his ribs. Cuts, or more rather, incisions were scattered all over his body but what made his heart stand still and his blood turn to ice were the track marks on his arm. Fresh track marks.

He managed to pull himself together, trying to ignore the panicked voice in his head screaming about what had happened the last time Rodney had been on drugs, how close they'd come to losing him. His hands flew straight to the bruises over the other man's ribs and he pressed down lightly, feeling his way down until he felt something shift beneath his fingers. His hissed out a breath in anger, that was one rib broken but when he pressed his stethoscope to Rodney's chest there seemed to be no problems with his breathing, even if it was coming slightly too fast. So it hadn't punctured a lung, thank heavens for small mercies.

Carefully they turned the scientist onto his back and Carson felt like hitting something; for a second he saw red before his eyes and wanted nothing more than to string whoever had done this and make sure they suffered a long, slow death, before he caught himself. He could not think like that, that train of thought would not help Rodney. Right now he needed to be calm, act as though this was just another patient.

"We need tae get these burns cleaned up and dressed, then we need tae start him on a course of antibiotics, God knows what kind of infections the lad may have picked up out there. Then I need blood work tae see what was injected into his system." Before he'd even finished speaking one of the nurses had hurried off to get the necessary supplies, he allowed himself a small, sad smile. He really had chosen the best of the best for his team and Rodney was going to need them all on their best game if he was to get through this.

"Doctor Beckett?" It was then that he realised he'd been staring down at Rodney's pale face for a good couple of minutes and he flushed slightly as he looked up at one of the other nurses. She was still standing next to the bed with Rodney's jacket held in one hand and, his heart sunk once again, a vial of red liquid clutched in the other.

"Oh please tell me you're joking." He said quietly, reaching out for the vial and looking at it closely. It looked exactly like Wraith enzyme. His lips pressed together in silent fury before he handed it back to the nurse, "I want that analysed right now, make sure it's what we think it is." She practically ran off to do so, and he returned to look down at his patient. A hand reached out and he stroked the other man's hair gently, "Rodney, lad, why did this have to happen tae ye?"


	10. Chapter 10

Sorry for the wait, things got on top of me and my muse decided to pack its bags and stay in Venice. However, this chapter is a little longer than previous ones so hopefully that'll make up for it.

* * *

The world was spinning far too quickly; fast enough that he could actually feel it and wanted nothing more than to cling onto any available surface in order to remain centred. His head was pounding and his body couldn't decide if he was too hot or too cold. His return to consciousness was not turning out as well as he'd hoped. Everything ached, every muscle, bone and damn hair on his body was screaming for attention and he didn't have the strength to do anything more than groan.

"Rodney?" That voice was very familiar; if only he could see. Just a minute, why couldn't he see? Had he gone blind? He began to panic; he didn't even know where he was! He could be anywhere! Koyla might be here. Oh God, what if he was still in the facility?

With a great effort he forced his arms to move, tearing frantically at the leads he could feel on his chest. Strong hands were suddenly grasping his own, running footsteps could be heard before more pairs of hands were on him, holding him down. He wanted to scream, to cry for help but all that came out of his mouth was a pitiful mewl. He was panting, the small movement tiring him out far too quickly.

"For God's sake lad, calm down." There was that voice again. It filled hi with warmth but his terror was at such a level that this did nothing to stop him struggling.

"Lemme go!" He cried, his voice feeble even to his ears and his arms were growing exceptionally heavy. He couldn't keep up this fight for much longer. He had to escape, get some enzyme. Yes, that's what he needed. Where did Koyla keep it? Somewhere in the complex…but he didn't even know where _he_ was so he'd never be able to find the stash now.

"Not likely. Just calm down, you've nearly ripped out your I.V." Rodney frowned in confusion (bloody hell even that hurt), Koyla's boys wouldn't want to look after him. In fact he wouldn't be in a bed if he was with the Genii.

"Who…you?" He asked, fighting the incredible weariness that was creeping into his very bones. He couldn't sleep. He had to escape. Find Sheppard. Get home.

"It's me, Rodney. Carson. Open your eyes, lad." Rodney made to interrupt but the voice continued, "Aye I know it's difficult. But you'll feel better. Come on, Rodney. There's a good lad." Normally he would have made some scathing remark about that patronising last sentence but all his energy was focused on lifting his eyelids. This would explain the blindness, why hadn't he realised that before?

After a small struggle he finally forced them open. He blinked rapidly against the bright light, screwing his face up in pain as it burnt his retinas. Once again he let out that pitiful mewling sound again. He vaguely heard Carson ordering someone to turn the lights down, and after a few seconds he was able to open his eyes without too much pain. His gaze fell first on Carson, how could he not have recognised his voice?

"Hello Rodney." There was that warm smile and Rodney felt safe for the first time in what felt like years. He was home, Carson wouldn't be here if he wasn't on Atlantis.

"'Bout time…" He started before his eyes drifted shut once again and he gave into the darkness.

XXXXXXXXX

Carson watched as Rodney's eyes fluttered closed, his breathing regulated and his heart rate slowed slightly. He would have preferred the scientist to be a bit more aware of his surroundings but there wasn't much more to be expected. Especially after the amount of enzyme Rodney had in his system. The blood work and analysis had come back in record time and they'd only confirmed his worst fears. There was a _lot_ of the drug in Rodney's system and by the look of those track marks on his arms it had been going on ever since they'd lost him.

He scrubbed a hand over his face, trying to remove the gritty feeling from his eyes. It was exhaustion, he knew the feeling so well it could almost be classed as an old friend. They'd been working nonstop for the past few hours; firstly swabbing all the wounds on Rodney's torso along with the track marks and then strapping up his rib. From what he could tell there were a couple of other bruised ribs but only one which had broken. They couldn't do a lot for that, as long as the scientist didn't put too much strain on it, it would hold and eventually heal.

It hadn't taken them long to realise he'd been stunned before he was brought here, although Carson wasn't sure if this had been down to one of the team or an outside party. The combination of the blast and Rodney's already elevated heart rate had worried him but so far the other man was holding strong. They'd given him painkillers to try and block the worst of the pain but there wasn't a lot else they could do at the moment.

He stared down at Rodney, concerned eyes taking in the sweat drenched forehead and the pale skin. He had hoped that they'd never have to go through this again. It had been awful last time, seeing Rodney writhing on the bed, so close to death and he hadn't been able to do anything about it. To hear his best friend accusing him of trying to kill him. He didn't think he could go through that again.

He sank down on one of the chairs next to the bed, a hand reaching out for one of Rodney's and he squeezed gently. He'd stay here all day and all night, he'd already made that decision the second he'd seen him in Ronon's arms. He had to monitor everything and if Rodney woke up again he'd prefer it if he was here to calm him down. Absentmindedly he began to stroke the back of his friend's hand, as his chin drooped to rest on his chest. A part of him wanted to cry; to just break down right now. He wanted to shout and scream at the world, to curse at every being in the two galaxies he called home for doing this. It just wasn't bloody fair!

"Carson?" His head snapped up and he blinked rapidly, suddenly acutely aware of how close he had actually come to allowing the tears to fall. He took a deep, steadying (slightly shaky) breath before he fully registered who was now in his sick bay. John, Ronon and Teyla were stood in the doorway, apparently waiting for permission to enter and he waved them forwards with his free hand. They hurried towards the bed and soon they were looking down at their teammate and Carson could see all his own emotions playing across their faces. All except Ronon, but then again that man had always been unreadable.

"How's he doing?" Sheppard asked, his eyes never leaving the scientist's face. Carson sighed following the Colonel's gaze, his hand squeezing Rodney's once again. He just didn't want to let go. It was as though he was scared that if he did he'd lose an anchor to sanity.

"Not good. He regained consciousness not long ago but was extremely disorientated. He slipped under again and we'll keep him under sedation for a while longer but sooner or later he's going to have to wake up." He knew there were certain procedures where you could place the patient in a medically induced coma and wait for the withdrawal to pass but this enzyme was far too dangerous for that. He didn't want Rodney to be under anaesthetic for too long. They'd managed to inject the scientist once he'd calmed down slightly but it had only been a small dose. God, they couldn't even knock him out properly to help him with the pain.

"It's going to bad." Carson was slightly surprised to hear Ronon's voice, it was quieter than usual but that was most definitely a statement. Ah yes, Ronon and Teyla had gone through a similar withdrawal on that hive ship hadn't they. So they knew all about this, except as far as he was aware they hadn't had as big a dose as Rodney had when he'd made it through the 'gate.

"Aye. He's only just entering acute withdrawal. Last time it was…difficult and this time he's been on the enzyme for a much longer period of time." He watched the three members of the Atlantis flagship team. He could practically feel the anxiety flooding off all of them. John was stood closest to Rodney, his hands by his side but his fingers occasionally twitching as though he wanted to just touch his friend, to reassure him that he was there. Teyla was next to him and he noticed that she too had taken Rodney's hand, fingertips brushing lightly against the pale skin. Ronon was stood at the foot of the bed, arms folded across his chest and to anyone who didn't know him they would have thought he couldn't care less about being here. It had taken Carson a long time to begin to understand the Satedan but eventually he'd come to notice little signs that gave away his emotions, the straightened back, the tighter posture.

"But he'll be okay, right?" John asked, although Carson wasn't under the delusion that the Colonel was naïve enough to believe that. It was just one of those questions that you felt you had to ask when standing next to the bed of a loved one.

"I don't know, Colonel. Last time was bad enough, we came so damn close to losing him then and this time his body's become more reliant on it. Going through withdrawal for the second time is often more dangerous, especially because his body will have welcomed the drug far easier this time around. It's not going to be pleasant and dangerous. I can't give you guarantees, all I can say is I'll do my best." It was the most assurance he could give, he'd do everything in his power to try and keep Rodney alive but most of it was down to the man now lying unconscious before them.

"Thank-you Carson." Teyla gave him a weak smile as she sank down onto the edge of Rodney's bed. The other two took that as a cue to grab two of the horrible hospital chairs and drag them next to the bed and sit down as well. Carson shot them a half-smile before he let go of his friend's hand at last, stood up, took another check of his vitals before he headed off to his office to give the team some privacy. He would have liked to stay there for longer but he knew that they would want to be alone for a while. They'd watch over him for now and he wouldn't be far away.

Once he reached his office he practically fell into his chair and buried his head in his hands. It took him a few minutes to compose himself and a few more calming breaths before he could bring himself to pull some of the paperwork that littered his desk towards him. It would take his mind off things for the time being.

A cough from the doorway made him jump and he turned wide eyes onto the woman stood there. He placed a hand over his heart, feeling the rapid beat begin to slow down now he could see who it was.

"Blimey Elizabeth, you nearly gave me a heart attack." He said, a weary smile forming on his lips as the adrenaline began to recede. The head of Atlantis shot him an apologetic look before taking a step inside his office.

"Sorry, I just wanted to check up on Rodney. How's he doing?" She asked, turning round slightly in the direction of Rodney's bed.

"I won't lie tae you, Elizabeth. It's worse than last time," She sucked in a breath as she turned back to face him, "He's going tae have to cope with most of the same symptoms as last time, but there's a chance they'll be more pronounced and more common. His body's more used to the enzyme now; it'd be like Ford coming off the bloody stuff." She nodded, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Is there nothing we can do?" Carson gave a bitter chuckle and her eyes widened in surprise.

"There was a small vile of enzyme in Rodney's jacket, I guess he was keeping it safe tae take whenever he needed it but it's not enough to wean him off it completely. At most it would last a day and after that he'd have to go cold turkey. Every option is as bloody bad as the other." He hadn't been able to vent his frustration before, but with Elizabeth he felt safer doing it. She wasn't going to judge him for not being the poster boy for professionalism all the time.

"What about sending a team to harvest more of the enzyme? I mean if we have a bit of it this time then there's more time for a team to get some more." Carson shook his head sadly. If they had more of the stuff then he might have thought about it but another team would just be putting themselves in harm's way with no guarantee that they'd even manage to get it back in time.

"There'd be no guarantee that they'd find any, let alone get it back for when we need it. If we finished the enzyme and there wasn't any more to use then he'd be in full blown withdrawal within a few hours. We've only got a while before the symptoms start to increase in severity now." He glanced out of the window, down towards Rodney's bed and the three people still sat round it. They weren't talking; they were simply sat there staring at their friend.

"But if we got it back in time then you could wean him off it?"

"Possibly. It should be similar to other opiate addictions but we've never tried it before. It's all bloody dangerous. Who did this tae him?" His voice shook with anger as he thought over all the injuries that his friend had sustained.

"John said something about Koyla." Carson felt his blood boil at the mere mention of that man's name. He should have known that bastard wasn't going to just disappear after everything he'd done against the expedition so far. If he ever got his hands on that evil, pathetic excuse for a man then he'd kill him with his bare hands.


End file.
